A wok around the lake

Take a walk on the wild side skink

Woke up this morning and said to myself, "You gotta walk the walk before you can caulk the tub. You gotta git out before you fix grout." This was pretty tough talk after a rough night. Don't ever recall waking up screaming from a nightmare before, but it was a very scary psychotic squirrel dream.

They can sense fear!

/Woʊk/ up this morning and said to myself, "You gotta \ˈwȯk\ the walk before you can \ˈkȯk\ the tub. You /ˈɡɑtə/ /ɡɪt/ /aʊt/ before you fix /graʊt/." 

But must I take my wok to the lake? My trusty Big Red Dictionary predates the discovery of woks in America. And the morning paper says Rusty the rogue red panda came to the National Zoo from the zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska. I would do The Wave for escapee Rusty with the theme song from Hawaii 5-O. Go Big Red panda!

Should I take my \ˈwäk\ to the park? I'll ask the expert, Dr. Chicken, aka Doc \ˈdäk\. He's a stir-fry kinda guy.

At the lake a red-shouldered  \ˈhȯk\  was screaming overhead. According to Merriam Webster, caulk rhymes with auk, balk, calk, chalk, gawk, hawk, Koch, Sauk, squawk,stalk, talk, walk. I'm sad to say I usually pronounce the "L" in caulk. Maybe my vowels are stuck down behind my epiglottal or uvula outposts of the International Phonetic Alphabet.

But the rooster crows at the break of day, and the cock \ˈkäk\ and the auk  \ˈȯk\ hear the \ˈkläk\ \ˈtik-ˈtäk, -ˌtäk\. We will \ˈtȯk\ again another day, but now back to the tub.

© 2013 Nancy L. Ruder